Page 145 of Tangled In Lies

“What did you do to her?”

The guy puts his free hand on his chest. “Ididn’t do anything. But Ruby gave her some drugs to help her sleep.”

Anger spirals up from the pit of my stomach, and I have to grind my molars to keep from reacting. If it wasn’t for the gun, I’d strangle them both.

The psycho peeks around me and winks. I don’t turn to see Ruby’s reaction because there’s no way I can take my eyes off Eve and this guy.

“Grab the handcuffs and put them on him.”

My gaze snaps to him, and movement behind me tells me he was talking to Ruby.

He watches her before lifting his chin toward me. “Hands up in front of you.”

Everything inside me fights his command, rage and fear struggling for dominance.

When I don’t immediately react, he lowers the gun to point it at Eve.

Tilting his head side to side to crack his neck, he stares me straight in the eye. “I feel a little trigger-happy today, so don’t tempt me.”

Clenching my hands into fists, I lift them. Ruby steps in front of me without looking up, solely focused on her task: cuffing one hand, then the other. There’s a long chain attached to the handcuffs, and the psycho grabs it. Without warning, he yanks me across the room to the other side of the bed, where he connects it to the side pole of theheadboard. It’s on the opposite side of Eve, and I hope like hell I can reach her.

He steps back and waves his gun around. “Since I’m such a nice person, I’m giving you a few feet to move around. If you don’t behave, I’ll take that privilege away. Are we clear?”

His intense stare is burning into the side of my head, so I give him what he wants and nod. He’ll pay for all of this later.

“Good.”

He walks toward the doorway, and this time, I drag my gaze long enough away from Eve to watch him nod toward the ceiling with the gun and say, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do. No, actually, please do. Either way, I’ll enjoy the show.”

His manic laughter follows him out of the barren room, and Ruby rushes after him when he calls her.

I scowl at the blinking camera in the top corner. That fucker is watching us.

For a moment, I just stand here, trying to get rid of some of this tension in my body. Every muscle is tight, every organ, my entire being on high alert.

Not understanding why we’re in this situation only adds to the turmoil, because why the fuck does Ruby and a guy I might have possibly met before kidnap Eve and me?

Do they want money?

No. That doesn’t make sense. Ruby comes from plenty of money too.

Eve groans again, interrupting my maddening thoughts. I stare at her limp form, wanting to climb on the bed and pull her into my arms. Badly. But I don’t want to disturb her. She needs to sleep off as much of the drugs as she can. I’m surethe aftereffects of whatever they gave her won’t be pretty when she wakes up.

As if she heard my thoughts, Eve rolls halfway on her back, and fuck. They handcuffed her too. The same way they restrained me, to the outside pole on the headboard. Damn it.

She mumbles something incoherent, and I throw all caution to the wind and get on the bed. I keep my movements as slow as possible in case she’s nauseated. The small moan that escapes her lips doesn’t make me hopeful.

“Angel, I’m right here.” I face her, reaching forward to brush the hair away from her face, but the chain stops a few inches away.

Fucking bastard.

I squeeze my hands so hard some of the newly formed skin on my knuckles stretches too much and splits open.

Shit.

I take several deep breaths, trying to calm the ball of worry and foreboding that’s currently twisting in my stomach. It’s impossible, but at least I’m as quiet as possible. Eve will probably freak out enough as it is when she finally comes around.

Instead, I mimic her previous position and lie on my side to watch her chest rise and fall in rhythmic succession.

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